Tuesday night we headed to an evening church service at Guanabano. For students, this was their first exposure to Dominican style worship and oh did they love it! Our white rhythm was put to the test as we tried to join in with the sounds of the drums, tambourines, and upbeat tempo but what a blessing it was to fellowship with our Dominican brothers and sisters who love Jesus! And what a beautiful picture it was to see students spread out throughout that place sitting in with their new Dominican friends, language barrier aside just celebrating the goodness of our Savior!
Students had several opportunities to share in the service and what a phenomenal job they did! Dominick Davis & Paige Hershberger shared their testimonies, while Nick Merryman gave a short message. Then the King of Hearts drama team performed sharing the message of what Christ has done for us without even needing words. What a powerful night it was together! As we closed out the service, hearts were encouraged and eyes had been opened to a whole new way to praise the Lord!
Wednesday brought with it our first full day of VBS (vacation Bible school) ministry. To make sure we can partner with all three of Pastor Quina's churches, we've split ourselves into two teams for our VBS ministry time. Team 1 headed to Guanabano (the same place we had worshiped the night before), while Team 2 headed to Naranjal (a church that is primarily Haitian). Both groups did a great job of diving in with the kids: singing Spanish worship songs like Yo Tengo Gozo (I've Got the Joy), teaching kids a memory verse about who Jesus is, sharing a story about how powerful Jesus is & how much He cares for us, and sitting with kids in their laps as they colored together a paper bag praise puppet! What a beautiful picture to see all the smiles on kids faces as they were held, tickled, loved on, and cared for by 21 American teenagers from Indiana!
After pulling everyone back together for lunch, we split out again to head into afternoon ministry. A group of 6 (Leah Tuttle, Nathan Blucker, Morgan Smith, Katelyn Davis & Caleb Yoder) headed out with Bob & Tami Bancroft, Sergio (one of our translators) & Jill Borg (Sam's wife) to do some door-to-door ministry, while the rest of the team headed to the Multi-Uso Court for sports ministry. The door-to-door team, though nervous at first, had a great experience sharing with the Dominicans they met. Several of them had the opportunity to share from their personal testimony and life verse as a source of encouragement/challenge to those they met. What was so incredible was to see the group come back more excited than ever about sharing their faith!
A highlight from our sports ministry at the multi-uso came at the end of the pick-up basketball game that our guys jumped into. After spending two hours at the court playing and sweating together, the guys pulled all the Dominican boys together and shared with them about their walk with the Lord and how He has changed their lives! Everyone was locked in as Tanner White and Dominick Davis took time to share, and we're trusting God that seeds were planted in that place!
Last night our team pulled together for a time of sharing and worship, sharing highlights from our experiences so far but also taking some time to get honest about how we want to challenge ourselves over these next several days to be pushed further out of our comfort zones. As we shared together it was evident that God is wanting to break through and do some incredible things through these students, and our prayer is that they will be filled so full of boldness that they can't even contain the hope that they have in Christ wherever they go!
As we dive into today and the days to follow, will you join us in that prayer? We have been given such a unique opportunity and we want to make the absolute most of that! We are trusting and praying for divine appointments/conversations and for a move of the spirit among these kids that we've come to share with! If there is one name we want to leave behind, it is the name of Jesus!
We're excited for what's ahead!!! Let's keep praying together!
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| King of Hearts |
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| Playing "Poto, Poto, Gonzo" |
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| VBS: Naranjal |
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| VBS: Guanabano |
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| Sharing Testimonies at the Multi-Uso |
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